


Couldn't Stop Caring

by falling_upwards_01



Category: Legacies (TV 2018)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon-Typical Violence, F/F, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Josie is precious, Penelope is a big softie, Posie being adorable
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-16
Updated: 2019-01-31
Packaged: 2019-09-20 02:38:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,343
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17013999
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/falling_upwards_01/pseuds/falling_upwards_01
Summary: It was dark.Josie hated the dark. She always had.Then again, she wasn't particularly fond of being buried alive either.orMy version of Josie getting buried alive in "Mombie Dearest."





	1. Chapter 1: The Earth

**Author's Note:**

> This is basically my way of rewriting the end of the "Mombie Dearest" episode because I thought the whole "buried alive" thing was inaccurate but then while writing it I made it even more inaccurate to real life sooo....
> 
> Anyway please enjoy!

It was dark.

 

Josie hated the dark. She always had.

 

Then again, she wasn't particularly fond of being buried alive either.

 

And yet here she was, mud and dirt surrounding her, oxygen running out, and fear wrenching her heart.

 

She missed her dad. And her sister. And MG. And Raf, even though she only met him recently. She even missed Hope.

 

And yes, she did miss Penelope. As much as she hated to admit it.

 

She had gotten to the point where she was numb to everything around her. She was cold and hot at the same time. She knew instinctively that she was passing out. And even though she knew that passing out meant she had mere minutes to live, it was almost comforting to not have to be aware of her own suffering. She let the blanket of darkness cover her as she drifted off into oblivion.

 

* * *

 

Penelope had been tense the entire night. She knew that she had brought it upon herself, but it still sucked. She kept scanning the crowd, waiting for Josie to appear. She knew Josie would choose a quiet entrance, instead of barging in as Lizzie had. Usually, it was just one of the aspects of Josie's personality which Penelope loved. But right now, as her own worry for the other girl grew and grew, she was beginning to resent it.

The longer Josie took, the more nervous Penelope became. She debated going up to Josie room to check on her, but seeing as she had already done so earlier that night, she decided against it. Josie already hated her, there was no reason for Penelope to give her a reason to remind her of that fact.

After asking around a bit, she concluded that no one had seen Josie at the party, which only heightened her anxiety about the whole situation. Something was definitely off. It was not like Josie to ditch a party her sister was at. She noticed M.G. slip outside and decided to follow him.

 

"Have you seen Josie?" She asked worriedly. M.G. shrugged.

"She's probably having the time of her life like I was until Prince Charming showed up and turned ME into the pumpkin!" He said dejectedly. Penelope put her hands on her hips, but before she could interject, M.G. continued his monologue. "I have hate in my heart," he leaped up dramatically, walking over to a shovel standing up straight in the dirt. He tugged it free. "I'm ready for battle. We're gonna duel." Penelope was already shaking her head.

"No, no we're not doing that. I'm holding you to our deal." She said, exasperated. "As of THIS moment, Lizzie Saltzman is canceled."

The crunching of leaves and twigs indicated that someone was walking towards them from the woods at a brisk pace. As it turned out, the person in question was none other than Hope Mikaelson.

"You gonna howl at the moon wearing that?" Penelope smirked, gesturing to Hope's dress. Hope sighed but kept walking.

"Sorry, no time for bitchy banter," Hope said sharply. Then she slowed down, turning around with a grimace on her face. "Actually," She turned around fully, "I could use your help finding Josie."

 


	2. Chapter 2: Company Keeps

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fyi at this point the fic is gonna kinda diverge from the canon plot. The basic plot points are the same but the dialogue and stuff is kinda different.

Penelope felt her heart jump to her throat at Hope's words.

"What happened?" A part of her wanted to pretend like she didn't care and feign indifference, but the larger, much more convincing part of her pushed that thought aside. Josie was more important than her pride. Hope's eyebrows knit together.

"Apparently her possessed biological mother buried her alive in the cemetery." She said all in one breath. Once again, Penelope's heart jumped. She felt her body react on its own, lurching forward to grab the shovel M.G. was carrying before walking briskly to join Hope. M.G. followed close behind.

 

Penelope's stomach flipped as they walked to the cemetery.

"M.G., listen for her breathing." Hope instructed. Even in the moment of urgency, Penelope couldn't help but take note of Hope's tone. The tri-bred seldom showed any sign of emotion, but now Penelope could sense anxious energy radiating off of her. The wavering of her voice, the tenseness in her shoulders; it almost made her more human.

Penelope's inner analysis of Hope was abruptly interrupted by M.G.'s exclamation.

"I think I can hear her! Quick, give me the shovel!" He grabbed it and began digging. 

Then a hand burst through the earth. For a split second, Penelope dared hope that the hand belonged to Josie. This hope was squashed, however, as soon as the hand grabbed M.G.'s ankle and pulled the rest of its body from the earth.

A mutilated zombie. Definitely not Josie Saltzman. Goddammit.

The zombie grappled with M.G., and in a moment of anger and frustration, Penelope lunged forward, whacking it in the shoulder with her ax. Unfortunately for both M.G. and her pride, the blow did nothing to deter the creature. M.G. quickly dispatched of it using his shovel. Sighing, and shoving the zombie away, M.G. got up and dusted himself off, taking deep breaths.

"Always go for the head. That the only way to kill a walker. Everyone knows that." He said matter-of-factly. Penelope scoffed.

"Yeah, every NERD knows that." She said, annoyed. "And just call it a zombie."

A loud noise drew the trio's attention. To their right, another hand had broken through the dirt of the old cemetery. They were about to have company.


	3. Chapter 3: 7 Circles

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ooookaaay it's been a hot sec so 1) the dialogue is gonna be a bit different from the actual episode from now on cause i'm lazy and 2) for all you people who are telling me to write longer chapters: I'M SORRY I'M BAD AT WRITING I CAN'T HELP IT I'LL TRY HARDER

"Ahhhhh shit." M.G. grimaced and hefted his shovel in the air. "This was not how I thought my evening would go."

"No, M.G., you focus on finding Josie." Hope gestured wildly towards the zombies sprouting from the earth. "Penelope and I can handle...this." M.G. nodded and began speeding around the graveyard, straining his ears for any sound that could indicate Josie's presence. Penelope glanced at Hope.

"So, uh. We can handle this?" She said it with more uncertainty than she would have liked.

"Yes." Hope bit her lip. "For...for Josie." She said, tentatively raising her shovel as if to perform a toast. Penelope snorted, surprised and exasperated. But she clacked her ax against Hope's shovel.

"For Josie," She said with a smirk on her face. Then they both turned to the horde of zombies now converging on them.

 

* * *

Zombie guts smelled almost as disgusting as they looked. Which was unfortunate because at this point, Penelope's hands were covered in the vile stuff. Hope wasn't much better off. M.G. was still attempting to locate Josie, and Penelope was starting to get impatient. She didn't have much of a problem with killing the zombies themselves, but every second wasted was a second Josie didn't have to spare.

"M.G., hurry up!" She snapped over her shoulder while simultaneously splitting a zombie's skull.

"I'm trying! There's too much noise, I can't hear her!" Although she couldn't see his face, M.G.'s voice sounded desperate, and for a moment, she felt bad for berating him. She wasn't the only one who cared about Josie. But she pushed that thought aside as another wave of anger enveloped her.

"Try harder!" She yelled back after chopping a zombie's head clean off it's shoulders. She swiveled around to see Hope thrust her shovel straight through another zombie's cranium.

"God, this is disgusting." The tri-bred scrunched her nose in disgust. "Why couldn't it have been literally anything other than zombies? This is straight up nasty."

"Well at least they're slow," She smirked, "and dumb," she added, after another undead creature attempted to sneak up on them by dragging itself along the forest floor.

"True." Hope smiled. "You know, you're not all that bad to be around when you're not tearing everyone around you down." Penelope blinked.

"Don't get sappy, Hope." She scowled. "I was just beginning to like you." Hope rolled her eyes.

"Whatever." Just then, M.G. came running over. Penelope grabbed his arm anxiously.

"Did you find her?" M.G. shook his head in despair. "Dammit M.G.!" She pushed him away and turned her back to her companions. She rubbed her face in her hands.

"Hey," Hope put her hand on Penelope's shoulder, "it's not his fault."

"I know," Penelope mumbled through her fingers, beyond exasperated at this point.

"We will find her." Hope said reassuringly. "I promise."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> still hella short but i have finals rn so this is the best yall will get, sorry in advance! once again please comment bc i love feedback of any sort


	4. Chapter 4: Heart Drops, Full Stops

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey y'all i'm trying to update as fast as i can't but it ain't really working so i'm so so sorry  
> anywho here's another chapter i tried to make it longer i really did i'm sorry

As Penelope and Hope picked off the zombies one by one, M.G. continued searching for Josie. He had resorted to pressing his ear up against the ground in an attempt to hear something, ANYTHING, to indicate Josie’s whereabouts.

 

Penelope’s stomach continued to turn and twist, and it wasn’t because of the zombie guts that were splattered all over her front (although that was thoroughly disgusting and certainly didn’t help). Every time she stopped to think, even for a second, all she could imagine was Josie struggling to breathe. 

Josie with dirt filling up her lungs.

Josie with her eyes wide-open and unseeing.

And then a truly horrifying thought struck her: if Josie was dead, and was buried in the graveyard, then she would become one of the zombies. And Penelope would have to kill her. 

What if she already had by accident? Would she have even noticed?

Penelope leaned over, turned her head to the side, and threw up. She gagged again, then spat and sucked in a deep breath through her nose, leaning heavily on her axe for support. The smell of vomit was masked by the smell of zombie guts.

Hope leaned over next to her as Penelope wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. Her heart was pounding.  _ Don’t think of it, don’t think of it, don’t think of it. _

“Are you okay?” Hope sounded genuinely concerned, which just made Penelope want to punch her more. But she didn’t. Instead, she coughed, then spat again.

“Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine,” Penelope answered with a quick smile, “just, uh...zombie guts make me wanna puke,” She lied. Hope just smirked and helped her to stand upright. Penelope’s stomach flipped once more.  _ Don’t think, don’t think, don’t think. _

“Guys!” M.G.’s voice rang out from 100 meters away. Penelope’s head snapped up.

“Did you find her?” Penelope tried to keep the desperation out of her voice.

“I don’t know, but I found something!” He shouted, and began quickly digging. Both Hope and Penelope rushed over and attempted to aid him in his troubles. The dirt was jammed beneath her fingernails, and the cold earth made her fingertips numb, but she kept digging. _Don’t, don’t, don’t._

She kept hoping,  _ praying, _ that Josie’s zombified mother hadn’t buried her in a coffin. If she had, they would have to break it open, possibly hurting Josie in the process. Then again, a coffin would potentially keep the dirt out of Josie’s lungs, keep the mud from engulfing her, swallowing her, crushing in and taking the life from her body and––

She stops herself.  _ Don’t. Think. Of. It.  _ She forced her hands to stop trembling and redoubled her efforts. She was determined to dig Josie out  _ alive _ . 

Suddenly, her fingernails scratched something that didn’t feel like dirt. Penelope cleared some of the mud away.

“Oh my god!” Hope exclaimed. Penelope was speechless.

“Go!” M.G. ordered, digging even faster, and quickly uncovering the discovered object: Josie Saltzman’s left arm. He used her arm to pull her up and out of the ground, dirt cascading from her body as he dragged her up. He gently laid her on the ground and brushed the excess dirt from her face and neck.

Penelope’s heart jumped into her throat. Her stomach turned. Josie’s eyes were closed, her lips parted ever so slightly. Her hair was pulled back in a simple style that was the epitome of Josie Salztman. Even in this state, she looked beautiful as ever. Then her heart jolted again.

“I don’t...I don’t think she’s breathing!” Penelope chocked out. Her hands trembled as she pressed her fingers against the side of Josie’s neck. Her hold body shook as she waited. Waited. Waited.  _ Come on come on come on.  _ Tears began to sting her eyes. She tried to quiet all the noise and focus on feeling Josie’s pulse. A sob of anguish and frustration began to bubble up in her throat when she felt it.

_ Thump. _

So soft and quiet, she could barely feel it.

But it was something.

_ Thump. _

_ Thump. _

_ Thump. _

The more she focused, the easier it was for her to hear it.

_ Thump. _

_ Thump. _

_ Thump. _

It was slow. Dangerously slow. But it was there. It was definitely there.

“Penelope?” Hope’s voice rang out right next to her ear. Penelope jumped. She had forgotten Hope and M.G. were even there. “Is she..? What’s going on?” Penelope let out a breath she didn’t even know she was holding.

“Alive.” A tear managed to slip down her cheek. “She’s...she’s alive.” She angrily wiped the tear away, hating herself for crying over her ex in front of people. Hope’s eyebrow knit together in a concerned look, which only made Penelope angrier. She was about to verbalize it when Hope leaned forward very suddenly and hugged her. Penelope was so surprised she didn’t even know how to react. At first, her instincts urged her to push Hope away and to berate her.

But she didn’t.

Instead, a loud, ugly, broken sob escaped her mouth. Tears began streaming down her cheeks. All the emotion she had been holding in broke loose. Hope only hugged her tighter, and Penelope hugged her back. 

When she pulled away, she saw that Hope had tears in her eyes as well.

“It’s okay.” Hope whispered. “It’s okay.” Then a quiet, strangled voice drifted up to her. 

“Penny?” Penelope’s heart clenched once more. There was only one person who ever used that nickname. She looked down at Josie lying on the ground. Her eyelids were fluttering. Every breath she took made a painful wheezing sound. Her head lolled to the side. Penelope gripped her hand.

“Josie?”

 

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fic so please let me know what you think! I'm desperate for validation!


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